


call me something sweet (baby, i'd do anything to hold your hand and kiss you deep)

by lesbianbettycooper



Series: riverdale fics [6]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Churches & Cathedrals, F/F, Fluff and Angst, I think?, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Betty Cooper, POV Betty Cooper, Pining, Season/Series 01, Unrequited Love, Vignette, good parent hal cooper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 13:44:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17726321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianbettycooper/pseuds/lesbianbettycooper
Summary: Betty hates wearing dresses and she hates this dress even more than most but she takes it from Ronnie with a shy smile and moves towards the bathroom to change.Vee grabs her wrist before she can make it, though, and smirks cheekily, “You don’t have to leave to change,” She says, in that way that she has that sounds like a suggestion but is really already convincing you to do whatever she asks, “I won’t look. Scouts honour.”Veronica holds up three fingers and Betty pushes them down, rolling her eyes and holding back a grin, “You weren’t a scout.”Vee shrugs, skipping back to Betty’s bed and sprawling across it. Betty undresses anyway, slipping into the dress and pulling at it every which way.or; veronica is painfully straight and betty pines





	call me something sweet (baby, i'd do anything to hold your hand and kiss you deep)

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea how to tag shit. also sorry if this is ooc dkjfdkjfsdd
> 
> (ps i changed the title to some bullshit bc my previous title was from a shitheaps song)

_i._

 

Veronica helps her pick out her clothes, Veronica helps her do her hair, Veronica helps her put on makeup. Veronica does these things slow and meticulously and Betty can only sit and watch and wait as she goes.

 

 

═══════════════════════

 

_“How about this one?” Ronnie asks, holding up a little blue dress that Betty vaguely remembers Polly buying for her._

 

_“I don't know…” Betty starts, she doesn't like the way it looks on her, how tight against her figure it is. Doesn't like the length or the cut or lace or anything about it. But Veronica pulls her up to stand and holds it against her body and smiles._

 

_“It’s perfect, Betts!” She exclaims, spinning Betty around to face the mirror and holding it up against her from behind._

 

_Her hands are smoothing the dress down and showcasing it for her to see but Betty can hardly think. She can feel Veronica’s body pressed up to hers, can feel her breath ghosting over her bare shoulder, can see her happy grin in the mirror as she rests her chin on Betty’s shoulder._

 

_Betty hates wearing dresses and she hates this dress even more than most but she takes it from Ronnie with a shy smile and moves towards the bathroom to change._

 

_Vee grabs her wrist before she can make it, though, and smirks cheekily, “You don’t have to leave to change,” She says, in that way that she has that sounds like a suggestion but is really already convincing you to do whatever she asks, “I won’t look. Scouts honour."_

 

_Veronica holds up three fingers and Betty pushes them down, rolling her eyes and holding back a grin, “You weren’t a scout.”_

 

_Vee shrugs, skipping back to Betty’s bed and sprawling across it. Betty undresses anyway, slipping into the dress and pulling at it every which way._

 

_She hears Veronica sidle up to her, touching her arm softly, “It looks great.”_

 

 _Betty hates the dress but she can’t doubt anything Veronica says in that sweet, sincere,_ genuine _tone._

 

_═══════════════════════_

 

_ii._

 

Veronica dances around her and makes her feel dizzy just be existing. Pulls her up to dance with her and Betty can do nothing but savour every moment spent touching Ronnie’s skin.

  
═══════════════════════

 

_The radio murmurs behind them. Quiet songs providing a backing track to their current baking adventure._

 

_It’s almost completely drowned out by Ronnie’s squealing and giggling._

 

_She’s spinning around Betty’s kitchen in a pink apron and she’s got flour in her hair and cake batter on her nose. Betty watches her as she mixes the cupcake mix quietly._

 

_“Don’t be boring, Betts!” Veronica giggles out, pointing a dripping wooden spoon at Betty like a weapon, “Dance with me!”_

 

_Betty smiles, turning up the radio with a flour covered hand, and gliding towards the dark-haired girl. She takes the spoon from Vee’s moving hands and places it down on the counter._

 

_They mosey around the kitchen island hand in hand, spinning each other every now and again._

 

 _“_ _And when I dance with you,” Ronnie croons, loud in the quiet house, “I feel ok, feel ok.”_

 

_“Because I know just what to do.” Betty sings too, twirling in a way that belies the fact that her mother forced her to take ballet lessons for six years._

 

_Ronnie collapses into laughter, leaning her head against Betty’s collarbone and wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She hangs off of her and Betty can feel her heart beating hard against her ribcage, she hopes and prays that Veronica can’t._

 

_Betty’s hands find a home at Vee’s waist, press against the small of her back. Her grin grows wide as they continue to move through her kitchen, close together and happy, content._

 

═══════════════════════

 

_iii._

 

Veronica kisses her twice. Once, in front of Cheryl Blossom and her Vixens. Another time, in Betty’s room after asking if she was her first kiss. Betty thinks about them both every single day for a month, replays them and dissects them and compares them and wonders and wonders and wonders what they mean.

 

═══════════════════════

 

_Betty stares at the ceiling, at the glow in the dark stars and dinosaurs she hasn’t yet pulled off. She thinks she keeps them up because her mother had told her she couldn’t have the dinosaurs, ‘they aren’t for girls, silly,’ Polly had laughed, but her father had rolled his eyes and gotten them for her anyway, had helped her put them up and then said to her mother that Betty was allowed to have anything she likes in her room._

 

_Veronica isn’t asleep either, she’s scrolling through her phone and giggling every now and again. She puts her phone down on Betty’s bedside table before snaking a cold hand down to grasp at Betty’s._

 

_“Hey,” She starts, tearing Betty’s gaze from the roof with a soft, cool finger. Betty steels herself for the question coming, Veronica has the look in her eyes she gets when she knows she’s being invasive but couldn’t care less, “Was I your first kiss?”_

 

_Betty frowns for a moment before shaking her head, Veronica’s finger has turned into her whole hand and her face feels hot under Vee’s cool skin. She giggles, not entirely nervous but certainly not a calm laugh, “No. My first kiss was Archie. He was excited that he was able to pass second grade and he kissed me and asked me to marry him. It was sort of horrible.”_

 

_Ronnie smiles, moving closer to her, “How about me?”_

 

_Betty freezes, she wasn’t moving before but now it feels like even if she wanted to she couldn’t, “Huh?” She asks, eloquently._

 

 _Veronica giggles, sliding even closer, her hand now warming against Betty’s cheek, “Was_ I _a horrible kiss, B?”_

 

 _Betty sort of, kind of can’t breathe and she sort of, might have squeaked out a ‘no’ but she’s also sort of, kind of,_ definitely _freaking out. Because Veronica is looking at her and is maybe about to kiss her and Betty really really_ really _wants her to._

 

_It’s softer than the last time. Slower. Sweeter._

 

_It makes Betty sigh into Veronica’s mouth and that in turn makes Vee smile into the kiss._

 

_No one is watching them this time. It’s not for show or shock value. It’s only them._

 

_And then Ronnie pulls away and laughs and she says, “I can’t wait to get a boyfriend here that I can do that with all the time.”_

 

_And Betty laughs with her and flips back onto her back and glares at her stupid glow in the dark dinosaurs._

 

_Girls like dresses, and they don’t like dinosaurs, and they don’t like other girls._

  
═══════════════════════

 

_iv._

 

Veronica smiles at her, secret little smiles that are only for Betty, Veronica grins at her, seductive and sly, and Betty can pretend that Ronnie feels the same about her.

  
═══════════════════════

 

 _“Well, why don’t_ you _perform with us, Betty?” Archie asks, turning his irritated gaze from Jughead, who looks back at him innocently, to Betty where it becomes softer._

 

_Betty shakes her head quickly, “Nope! I’m with Jug, nobody needs to hear me sing.”_

_“I’ve heard you sing,” Veronica interjects, Archie nods along with her, “You’re great.”_

 

_Betty looks at her. She’s smiling, very small at the corner of her mouth. Betty bites her lip and shrugs, muttering, “I don't know...”_

 

_Veronica grins at her, pleading and sweet and big, and she clasps her hands together. Archie might be doing the same thing beside her but Betty doesn’t look at him while she decides._

 

_She smiles and concedes, “Oh, alright.”_

 

_Ronnie jumps up and hugs her across the picnic table and Archie cheers from the other side. Jughead rolls his eyes but smiles a little at the pure joy coming from his friends. He does give her a sideways glance though, confused, probably, by how easily she gave in just then._

 

_Betty goes back to her ham and cheese sandwich worried about performing but glad it’ll be with Vee, and Archie._

 

═══════════════════════

 

_v._

 

Veronica seems enthralled by her in one moment and disinterested in the next and it leaves Betty reeling. But every time Veronica shows up again, with chocolate and flowers and apologies, Betty lets her back in.

 

 

═══════════════════════

 

_“Flowers for you, Lizzy.” Her dad says when she gets back from Jughead’s one afternoon._

 

_Betty rolls her eyes, “Veronica?” She asks pointedly, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water._

 

_Hal nods, putting down the newspaper, placing his reading glasses atop his head, and pushing the large bouquet across the kitchen island, towards Betty._

 

_She frowns at him, holding the half-empty cup of water to her chest, “I don't want them.”_

 

_“Lizzy,” Hal says, his eyebrows raised, his tone light but with little room for argument, “Just take the flowers and call your friend.”_

 

 _“_ Fine _.” Betty pouts, passing her water to her dad and grabbing the flowers more softly than she’d intended._

 

_She rushes up the stairs and kicks her Keds off at the door, chucking the flowers (placing them carefully into a water-filled vase) onto her desk, and flopping onto her bed and messaging Veronica._

 

**_got your flowers_ **

 

_Veronica replies in under a minute._

 

**_yeah? did you like them? you told me peonies were your favourites xx_ **

 

_Betty smiles a little._

 

**_yeah. thanks_ **

 

_Veronica takes a while to reply so Betty lies back on her bed and stares at her ceiling, at the marks left by peeled off stickers. Her phone dings beside her and she picks it up embarrassingly quick._

 

**_i’m really sorry for everything that i did and i hope you can forgive me bc i really miss hanging out with you._ **

 

_Betty wonders if Veronica even knows what she’s done wrong. She’s not one to hold grudges though._

 

**_me too <333 pops?_ **

 

═══════════════════════

 

_vi._

 

Veronica and Archie hang off of each other and make eyes at each other and do everything with each other and Betty watches, _longs_ , with Jughead by her side doing the same.

  


═══════════════════════

 

_Ronnie and Archie enter Pop’s hand in hand, giggling and in love and Betty feels a little bit sick._

 

_She hates that as her friends sit across from her and Jughead in their little booth, she’d rather be anywhere else. That as they swoon over each other and talk to their friends opposite them still holding each other’s hands, she’d rather be with Cheryl fucking Blossom._

 

_Hates that when Pop brings them their milkshakes and their burgers, he spares a sympathetic glance towards Jughead and Betty._

 

_Betty thinks this must be a new low. Pining after your best friend and collecting pity from Pop Tate._

 

_She turns to Jughead and laughs when he makes a face. Veronica looks between the two of them and gasps, finally letting go of Archie’s hand to clap hers together. It shocks Betty and confuses her._

 

_“What?” Jughead asks, sounding just as confused as Betty feels._

 

_“The two of you!” She laughs, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”_

 

_This time it’s Betty who asks, “What?”_

 

_“You’re dating, right?” Ronnie says as if it’s the simplest, most obvious thing._

 

_“What?” Archie chimes in helpfully._

 

_“They’re dating. Makes complete sense.” Veronica continues, doubling down on this ridiculous claim._

 

_Betty and Jughead look at each other for a second before bursting into giggles. Archie grins too, patting Vee on her arm consolidating._

 

_“No!” Jug manages through his laughter._

 

_“Absolutely not!” Betty says, wiping at tears that have leaked out of her eyes._

 

_Veronica pouts, clearly not liking being laughed at, Archie throws his arm around her shoulder and pulls her close, “Don’t mind them,” He says, all sweet like, “They get this all the time, they're probably just surprised one of their friends could ever think that.”_

 

_And just like that Betty sobers, Jughead does too._

 

_Staring as Veronica smiles too and turns her head up to kiss Archie. Soft, and happy, and in love._

 

_Betty breathes deep and takes a sip of her milkshake, leaning her shoulder against Jug’s and smiling at him. He smiles back sadly._

 

_═══════════════════════_

 

_vii._

 

Veronica asks her to come to church, so Betty piles into the backseat of the Lodge’s sleek black car with Ronnie and makes small talk with Mrs Lodge all the way there. When they're leaving the only reason she does the sign of the cross at the door is that Ronnie makes her. The next time Veronica asks her to go with her, she’s busy working on a car, and the time after that she’s got homework, and so on.

  
═══════════════════════

 

_She stands when Ronnie stands and kneels when Ronnie kneels and sings when Ronnie does. She doesn’t listen to a word the priest says, almost actively ignores him. She’s too busy concentrating on Veronica pressed against her._

 

_They’re sitting too close in the pews. Their knees pressed hard into each other; their shoulders rest slightly touching; when they stand their hands brush against each other._

 

_Betty doesn’t rise for Eucharist, she sits with her hands on her closed knees and her feet planted firmly on the ground. Only children don’t rise with the rest of them. Betty wishes she wasn’t here._

 

_She doesn’t know what flipped but she knows at some point in the last hour since entering the church, she became deeply uncomfortable by just sitting here. Maybe it was as soon as she entered when she felt like the saints and angels and every heavenly statue could see through her good girl thing and into her core, could see her most evil sins. Maybe it was when she sat down beside Veronica at the end of an isle and felt her body bracketed on either side by the end of the pew and Ronnie’s body. Maybe it was when the sermon began. Maybe it was all of it, maybe it was none of it, all Betty knows is that she wants to leave._

 

_When the service ends, Betty almost leaves Ronnie behind in her haste to get out but Vee grabs her wrist and pulls her towards the holy water by the door._

 

_“You can’t leave without doing the sign of the cross, Betts.”_

 

_She does so reluctantly and, while doing it, it feels like a hand tightens around her lungs. She doesn’t know why but she wants to be out of here as quickly as possible._

 

_She borderline sprints to the car where Hermione is waiting for them and she doesn’t speak the whole way back._

 

_She leans into the window when they arrive at her house and thanks Hermione for the ride, tells Veronica she’ll see her at school. Ronnie frowns but waves goodbye anyway._

 

_When Betty walks through the door, she feels like she can finally breathe again._

 

_“How was it?” Her father asks from the kitchen table._

 

_Betty thinks she gives him all the answer he needs by flopping face down into the couch pillows._

 

═══════════════════════

 

_viii._

 

Veronica watches Betty fix cars and makes snide comments and fake swoons over Betty but it makes her smile and maybe sometimes she’ll show off just a little bit.  


═══════════════════════

 

_“God, Betty,” Veronica calls from the driveway, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head. It’s sunny and far too hot for the all-black outfit Ronnie currently dons, she doesn’t seem to mind though, “You’re so butch.”_

 

_Betty rolls her eyes, wiping grease from her hands and moving to take the bottle of water from Vee’s hands, joking, “Yeah but you love it.”_

 

_Ronnie smirks and looks her up and down before nodding and patting her shoulder, “Yeah, I do.”_

 

_She moves around her then to talk to Archie - who had retreated inside the house about twenty minutes ago abandoning her to Jughead who only gave unhelpful comments while Betty did everything herself - leaving Betty staring after her._

 

_Jughead sidles up to her, his face a war of distaste and smugness, “The two of you are truly sickening.”_

 

_Betty scoffs, pushing the grease-dirty towel into Jug’s chest and moving to get back to work, “Shut up.”_

 

_She hears Jughead laugh loudly behind her._

 

_═══════════════════════_

**Author's Note:**

> its beronica hours yall!!
> 
> also this probably seems unfinished and like....... it sort of is. i kinda lost like steam halfway through if you could tell dfjksdhfkj
> 
> comments and kudos appreciated <3333333333333333
> 
> im on tumblr @dykeayoade so if you wanna talk about gay riverdale over there we can!


End file.
